Painting Tips for Using Dark Hues in the Home

Rich, dark, and elegant paint colors can be beautiful in the home, when applied correctly. In the right rooms, darker hues give a warm and invigorating presence, but when used in the wrong areas, dark colors can make your home feel drab and dreary.

Here are tips you can use in your entire home for painting with darker colors. Rich hues like navy, emerald green, plum purple, and even maroon can look elegant and pleasing applied with the assistance of a professional painter.

Choose Neutral Accent Walls

The key to painting any room a bold color is to create dimension in the same living space by adding a neutral or lighter-toned accent wall. The lighter paint tone breaks up the rich presence of a darker paint hue, making any room appear larger and more inviting. You can choose a neutral color in tan, eggshell white, or even antique gray.

If neutrals are not your preference, then have your painter paint your main walls in a darker tone of your choosing and then paint an accent wall (usually the longest or largest wall in the room) a lighter shade in the same color spectrum as the darker paint hue. For example, if you choose maroon as your main paint color, then allow mauve or a dusty rose to be an accent color in the same room for a stunning and elegant effect.

Choose Lighter Hues for Smaller Rooms

Darker paint colors absorb light rather than reflect it, which makes painting smaller rooms bold hues somewhat difficult. To make a smaller room appear brighter and larger, choose darker hues that are lighter in appearance. For example, instead of painting a small room royal purple, choose a softer lavender - still dark, but with a gray undertone to soften the paint's lines.

Another way to use dark hues in smaller rooms is this: simply choose a dark paint color for an accent wall only, using a lighter tone for the remaining walls. This painting technique is the exact opposite for using dark paint in larger areas and has the same effect in adding needed dimension in your living space.

Alternate Dark Hues

The best part about painting your home's interior is that you can paint each room its own invigorating hue. Do not stick to one main dark hue for the entire home; rather, choose a variety of bold colors that will each complement the spaces they adorn.

For example, your kitchen can be painted a deep goldenrod to make the space brighter and more charming, while your living area can be painted a rich navy to make the space more contemporary. In breaking up bold paint hues by contrasting colors, you make your home appear more modern and allow each paint hue to fill its space appropriately.

If you do wish to paint large areas of your home a single paint hue, make sure you compensate for the color you choose by choosing softening lighting. For example, yellow lighting creates a warm and welcoming glow over white lighting and helps make entire dark rooms brighter.

Before settling on any particular dark paint hue, speak to your professional painter for suggestions and paint samples. You will also want to speak to your painter about different available textures for your walls to update flat and unfinished walls. Texture can also further enhance the final appearance of your newly painted walls.

You can choose from many rich and elegant dark hues for your home's interior. Your painter will help you choose which hues will work best in each room and will paint your walls evenly and expertly. Allow our expert painters to give your home an upgrade in color by calling American Best Painting Inc today.